You can not help who you fall in love with, but staying in love is another thing entirely and is even harder to do if you’re in a long distance relationship. Most online dating sites and apps allow you to set a distance radius on your profile, which will only show you all potential suitors within that particular radius. This, of course, creates greater choice but also means there’s a greater chance of you meeting someone who lives far away.

If you choose to use an app which doesn’t have this service, or you decide to increase the distance radius on your profile, you might start chatting to other users who live hundreds of miles away, or even to users living in different countries. If you get on well with someone online, there’s a chance you will begin a relationship with that person, so in this instance, it would be classed as a Long Distance Relationship (LDR) at the start, simply because of where you both live.

Not being able to see someone regularly can be tough. Added to that, if you embark on an LDR, you have to consider the costly phone calls, expensive plane tickets, time differences, etc. That said, many of us end up having a long-distance relationship at some point, for the simple reason that love is not always rational. When you are in love, the feeling is rare and is very powerful, so there should be no barriers to love.

LDR’s can work and do work and with the advancements in technology, you are able to face-time or Skype someone, even if you’re living on opposite sides of the world. However, this is no replacement for physical contact, so you have to really want your relationship to work and ensure that you speak to, message and face-time each other regularly. You try to tough it out for the sake of love, even when it’s difficult. Usually, when people see other again, the intimacy and sex are amazing.

An LDR can take its toll but the other main key to maintaining an LDR is “trust”. You shouldn’t stray whilst apart, otherwise the feelings will diminish and your relationship will peter out. Stay faithful and make sure you keep in touch with each other regularly.

The ultimate goal is for you both to leave behind your long distance love story and unite in the same city. This should always be the main objective that you are both working towards and you shouldn’t lose sight of this.

I met my boyfriend online almost 3 years ago. We met for the first time 7 months later at age 16. Our long distance relationship lasted 27 months and on the 6th July this year we moved into our own apartment to start our life together. Love doesn’t care about distance you can make it work!

I have never dated someone I met online but I have had a great friendship with someone I met online and it has had its struggles, too. We finally met in December when I was down in Florida with family and I was amazed at how easy it was to hold a conversation with him. It was like we had known each other our whole lives, even though we had only ever talked over the phone and online.